Davina McCall's top tips for a healthy diet

Jan 8, 2016

With several cookbooks, fitness DVDs and now a cookware range with Lakeland under her svelte belt, presenter and mum of three Davina McCall offers her healthy eating advice.

You're such a busy lady – how do you stick to a healthy diet when things get really hectic?Plan ahead! I have a blackboard in my kitchen that's in an ornate gilt frame – so it's a real feature of the room. I write a Monday to Friday meal plan on it – taking into account what the kids have on their school dinner menu – to make sure they get a varied diet. My weekly shop is based on this plan, which saves money as we don't end up wasting food. If I'm cooking a favourite recipe, such as my Chicken Crumble, I'll make double portions and freeze half for a quick dinner on a super-busy day.

Is your family enthusiastic about healthy eating?Yes, massively. They've all taken an interest. And my middle daughter, Tilly, who's 12, has recently become a vegetarian. I don't make her separate meals every day because I don't want her to feel weird or awkward. So we're all cutting back on meat.

What are your tips for staying on track?I had a bit of a relapse over Christmas and the sugar cravings crept back. But my daughter made some sugar-free chocolate mousse in shot glasses, which we chilled in the fridge. When we craved something chocolatey the mousse was a little hit of something naturally sweet without any refined sugar. It helped get me back on the straight and narrow! The knack is to find a healthy substitute, then you tend not to miss the naughty things.

Davina for Lakeland Personal Blender, £29.99, Lakeland

Tell us how your cookware range came aboutI love the Lakeland catalogue. It has things you didn't even know you needed and at great prices. So it was an absolute no-brainer for me to approach them in the hope we could work together. Luckily, they liked my ideas straight away.

How did you begin designing the collection?I went round my house and took pictures of the cushions on my sofa, my chairs, napkins and, most importantly, my cutlery drawer. I call it my happy drawer because it's a mix and match of different colours and patterns. I said 'This is what my life is like and I want to bring a sense of it to the range.' So, the colours are bright and each individual piece is a great standalone or you can add to it and have a happy drawer like mine!

How does the range help with healthy eating?With the spiral vegetable cutter, for instance, you can make all sorts of vegetables into a spaghetti substitute. My kids definitely prefer courgetti to spaghetti and they also love the sweet potato chips I make with the crinkle cutter – I think because it makes them look a bit more shop bought!

Spiral vegetable cutter, £9.99, Lakeland

Which piece could have the biggest impact on someone's diet?The blender really helps people on the go, as it comes with two travel cups with flip top, sipper lids. You can make a nutritious breakfast or a healthy snack that will stop you reaching for naughty treats. And it's such a good price.

What is the one naughty treat you struggled to give up?When I first gave up sugar it was milk chocolate – and when I do have a relapse that's what I'll reach for. I think chocolate has made its way into our hearts by being our friend when we're sad, it sort of hugs us. But actually it's just not very good for us and that's been scientifically proven now. In particular, it was my sister's diagnosis of cancer that made me relook at my sugar intake.

Crinkle cutter, £6.99, Lakeland

You've mentioned Chicken Crumble from your new book, what other recipes do you rely on?Chicken Crumble is a family favourite. There's also a really easy one for Poached Chicken with Lemon Sauce. Because it's been poached, the chicken is beautifully tender and served with brown rice and a dollop of crème fraîche it's delicious. My go-to quick one is an amazing recipe for Blackened Fish with Bean and Avocado Salsa, it's just so good! These are my favourites and the ones I find myself relying on time and again.

Finally, what's your advice for those who say it's too late for them to change what they eat?It's honestly never too late to adopt a healthier lifestyle. You have to accept that sometimes it takes a while to get into it. For example, at home we started using brown rice a few years ago and none of us really liked it. But once we went through learning to cook it properly and experimenting with new flavours, we all came to love it. It does take a while to get used to something different but the perseverance truly pays off!

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